Left Behind Promises
by LoverAndRival
Summary: It's hard to interrogate the enemy when your childhood is standing before you. Slash. SoundwavexTracks


This story is for a liverjournal community that I decided to post here as well. The story is based off a prompt: Missing You with the pairing of Soundwave/Tracks. I'm going to go ahead and say sorry for OOCness of the characters (I tried really hard to keep them character but I fear my creative rights took their own little path) and for any spelling/grammar mistakes (I do try to catch them all and I don't have beta reader to proof read).

Disclaimer: Don't own transformers, all I do is write weird things about them

Warnings: mention of violence, mention of child abuse, slash, some mild language, and fluff

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_We were young and foolish. The world was too big for our under processed CPUs to process, but we made due with our curiosity and naivety. It didn't matter how small we were or how large everything was around us, we had each other. We were all that was needed to be happy. We. Us. The two of us creating an unstoppable team of sparklings. The dynamic duo. _

_Primus, how I miss those days…_

::Soundwave, the interrogation is about to begin:: Megatron's voice filled my communication frequency ::Where are you? We need you here to-:: His voice was gruff, almost grinding in terms of vocals, but they were still better than Starscream's. Everyone's vocals were better than that crazed seeker's.

::Soundwave; inbound. Time; 15 klicks:: I was really. In fact, I would still be on time since the interrogation of Autobot prisoners was meant to start five jours before the end of the solar cycle, which would be the exact time I would be arriving. Not, my fault every other Decepticon was there early from over eagerness to witness more of the brutality that was so much loved here. I always believed that it was a waste of resources and time for such procedures when I could just easily enter their processors and read them like an unlock datapad.

But this is Megatron's will and I am his humble servant. What I believe means nothing if it goes against that of my Commander's.

_I remember this one time you thought you could fly. Soar like the seekers we saw flying high above our heads every few cycles. I believed you. You had wings, white as the light shining off the High Chamber's Crystals, sitting there on your back waiting to be used. To have the wind touch them. I wanted to see you fly. _

_That lunar cycle, I had never cried so much. You couldn't fly. All you did was plummet. The adults told us that your wings weren't ready and that you weren't meant for that kind of flying. They told us this as you laid there on that medical berth, fresh welds and wires all over your small body. At the time I thought you looked like a jigsaw puzzle I had seen my guardian put together some times with me. _

"_Don't cry, Sounds," your voice was so high and young, it almost squeaked on certain pitches. "I'm fine and right here. I'm not going to leave you." You were always the brave and strong one. Always. "Watch. When I'm older and can fly I'll take you with me wherever I go. I won't ever leave you behind."_

_I believed you._

The brig doors opened before me, air compressing in a hiss. It seemed everyone was already here, some hearing my entrance even turned to look at me before turning back to what was happening in the center of the room. Never once did I pause in my forward motion, I had a duty here to perform. I wasn't part of the peanut gallery. I was essential in retrieving important information from the prisoners.

There were four of them there, huddled together in a cluster on the floor. Energon and coolant pooled beneath them while some of it was sprayed outwards on walls, even a few of the Decepticons were splattered by the fluorescent liquid. The amount of it stung my optics, my visor flickering as it tried to readjust to the scene. I long ago lost my sense to purge at these kinds of moments, they were all too common to keep that queasy feeling that once filled my tank vorns ago.

In the pile of shivering steel and whimpers, I see faces. I see the young and brave yellow bot, trying to stay conscious from the pain, leaning against a red and blue praxian, one wing hanging limply on his back while the other was gone. Most likely ripped off to become a souvenir. On the other side of this mech was the hard headed minibot that would often jump head first into battle with his guns blazing. What was left of his red armor was cracked and crumpled. His vocals were still working with growls and foul language, slandering the Decepticons name with every other word. Then I saw the blue armor and red face…I saw you.

_You stood there in the light. Eyes bright and smile crooked. Your wings flared out behind you in glory. I thought I was looking at Primus's gift to mech kind. If I had known the human term that I know now, I would have used it then. Angel. _

"_Come on, Sounds," your voice was deeper, more grown up. Stronger. "You're moving too slow. We're going to miss the holovid at this rate," humor cradled your tone, no anger or impatience. You just stood there glowing._

"_Sorry," I knew it wasn't necessary to say, but the word had ingrained itself into my speech pattern. My guardian was always demanding that small word from me._

"_I hate when you say that word," your stance changes and a frown ruins your face. "You're always saying that stupid word. It gets annoying. Can't you say something else instead?"_

"_Sor-umm…I'll try," my timid voice whispers through the distance between us. My guardian hated when I took liberties with my words, saying more than I had the right to. But for you I would have said every foul word in Cybertronian history to his face if you had asked me to. Repercussions or not._

_Your hand reaches out for me, waiting for me to clasp it. To hold it within my own clumsy hand. Fingers entwined. I always held my breath at the initial touch, fearing that I might feel a shock of electricity strike me for touching you. The electricity strikes, but not like that. It attacks my spark and makes it flutter. I often felt lightheaded with your touch._

"_I know," you smile. I always feel so warm next to you. _

_I knew then that I loved you. _

Your eyes pierce mine with hate. Lips curled up into a snarl, energon staining your broken face. Your beauty beaten by brutes. I hate that I'm here, seeing you like this. You should never look like this. I should have protected you, but we are both in Megatron's domain. We must follow his rules. His rules are laws here.

"Which do you think we should start with?" I hear Skywarp's voice behind my back, sneering at the Autobot prisoners.

This wasn't necessary.

"I say we start with the praxian," Blitzwing's voice answered back, leering at the hurt mech that caught his attention. "I love watching praxian frames wither under my touch." Most of the Decepticons laughed at the crude joke.

I could have interrogated them without all this mess.

"Nah, I thinking about starting myself with something smaller," Drag Strip called out at the end of the laughter, "maybe even yellow." Wolf whistles filled the room along with more laughter.

"Why not some red mixed in," Mixmaster crooned over the noise.

I feel a mech come up to stand beside me. Their cold steel emitting cruel heat and frigid distain. Starscream.

"I say we start with the pretty one at the end," his voice screeched at audio receptors. I could feel my own strain under his pitchy voice, vibrating from his close proximity to me. Baring with the pain, I grinded my oral dentures together trying to keep out his ruined vocals.

It takes me only a moment to see him reach out for you with all the righteousness he had never once deserved. I move without thinking. I can't let him touch you. You're already broken, you don't need him to add to it. I snatched his outstretched hand, gripping so hard I could hear the metal warp under my fingertips.

"Argh! You slagger!" Starscream bares his voice into my face, I can feel my audio receptors overloading from the vocal abuse. I was going to have to visit Hook after this if I wanted to hear clearly ever again. Slag you, Starscream. "How dare you touch me! I'm the Second in Command, you hear me Soundwave! Second in Command!" Starscream, face contorted into outrage, turned to Megatron who had been watching everything quietly from the back of the brig. "I demand you punish Soundwave for contempt and acting against a superior officer, Lord Megatron!"

I won't let go. There is no need for me to turn my head to face Megatron, I can feel his optics on me. Judging and weighing my actions. I can feel his mind thinking in the ocean of others, my telepathy finally having a chance to distinguish the voices from inside to that of outsides. I can sense Starscream's hostility rolling off him in waves, pulling at his arm with his other hand now. I won't let him escape. Not when I can hear that voice in his head talking about all the things he's thinking of doing to you.

"Soundwave, what is the meaning of this?" Megatron's voice is calm and collective. An experience leader. He knows me, sometimes I wonder if he is able to see into me like I can see into everyone else.

"I have a suggestion, Lord Megatron," I must say something. Everyone is listening to me, looking at me. I can even feel your optics staring through me. Can you see my spark, Tracks? It's thumping from fear for you.

_I was crying, begging for mercy. My guardian was displeased with me again. I couldn't understand what I did wrong. I was sitting quietly in his study, catching up on my lessons as he had wanted, when he came in. He hit me. Again and again. I kept trying to tell him sorry, because I knew I did something to cause his anger. I always did._

_My legs hurt and I couldn't walk to meet you as I had promised. In fact I couldn't lift either of my arms above my shoulders and my CPU kept swimming. It hurt to just filter air. I was afraid you would be mad at me for not meeting you, that you might think I didn't want to be near you anymore. I was scared that I would lose you_.

_You were everything to me._

_I was unable to recharge that cycle or the one after that. In fact I don't believe I recycled at all during that time my body was healing. My self repairs taking their time in fixing what was broken inside of me. _

_When I was better, able to walk with a minimal limp, I went out to see you. Moving slowly but every step becoming steadier, I traveled to our favorite hang out. I was afraid you wouldn't be there. I thought I would never see you again. I very much cried the entire trip._

_But you were there, waiting for me as you always did if I was running late. Laying there upon a bench, ankle crossed over a knee, reading one of your romance datapad stories. You always called yourself a romantic. I was lousy at romance. _

_Your optics meeting mine made my world explode in colors. I was so happy I began to cry again. Harder. The tears happy. As soon as the tears left my optics, I fell to my knees with my hands covering my face. You were there by my side before my knees met the ground._

"_Hey, what's wrong?" You hugged my body to yours, rocking me as static left my lips and my shoulders shook uncontrollably. I held onto you as my last life line._

_I wailed like a sparkling in your arms for what seemed like forever. I didn't want to let go and the tears wouldn't stop. You never left. Waiting quietly for me to let it all out and compose myself when all that was left of me was raw._

"_Come on, Sounds," you soothed me with your voice, your cheek resting comfortably against the side of my face, "I have you. Go ahead let it all out. I'm here. I'm right here. I won't leave you. I promise." Against the side of my face I can feel your words whisper across my sensors. _

_Pushing yourself back from me, just enough so that you can look at me face to face, I see your sad smile. Your hands move to the sides of my face, holding my head up. The tears have slowed down, trailing down my swollen cheeks. I never wore my mask in front of you. You are the only one to see how I really look underneath it all._

_Thumbs softly brushed away the tears. Your optics seemed to fall into a light glow as they trailed over my face. I wonder briefly what you must have thought of me then. Vulnerable. Pathetic. Hurt. Your face moved closer to mine, lips almost touching. My intakes stalled. I had forgotten how to breathe. You paused there, optics staring so deeply into mine I felt naked._

"_I love you, Sounds."_

_We kissed. And we touched. Our love became physical that very lunar cycle. We lost ourselves to each other, as well as our virginities. You and I became one. I had fallen so hard for you, that I was crashing. But I knew you were there to catch me. You could fly after all._

_I loved you and you loved me. I was happy. You were all that I needed. Everything I was meant nothing without you. _

"You can't be serious about allowing this, Oh Mighty Megatron," Starscream ranted from behind Megatron, putting our leader between us. Smart move, I would give him that much. If he had continued to stand near me I doubt I could be held responsible for my actions.

"Shut up, Starscream," Megatron's patience long gone from hearing Starscream's voice constantly cawing from behind him, "before I shut you up." His ruby optics staring me down, I stood there like a wall. Impassive. Impenetrable. "Go ahead, Soundwave. I don't have all cycle."

"As you command, Lord Megatron," I bowed with grace of my rank. I had a duty to complete.

I move towards you, crouching down until we're optic level with each other. You shrink away from me, flinching from my proximity. I can't blame you. I would to if I were you. I'm a monster to the mech you once knew. A murderer.

"Don't touch me, you Decepti-Loser!" You snarl at me as I reach out for you. I ignore your words, grabbing you roughly and lifting you up to a better sitting position. I don't want to hurt you unless I have to. "Let go!"

"Quiet, Autobot," my monotone voice freezing you in place within my arms. You know what is happening. You know me.

Looking into your optics reminds me of Earth's oceans, when you're looking up through the blue water on a bright sunny day. The nano-lights layered into optics always seem to be dancing within yours. It's been so long since the last time we were this close. My spark is screaming for you, even this close is too much distance between us.

"I don't get it, what is supposed to be happening here?" Skywarp whispered quietly to his neighbors, everyone shrugging their shoulders or shaking their heads. No answers.

None of them knew me very well, always trying to put distance between us. Don't get to close to the weirdo who can read your mind. I know what their thinking without trying. It's written all over in their body language.

You're giving me your trademark grin, chin rising upward to look down your nose at me. I've heard you've become conceded from your beauty. I imagine it must be true to pull this off so smoothly in your state of body and still make it look as though everyone is below you.

"What are you doing, Soundwave?" Megatron growled, tapping his cannon with his other hand's fingers. He hated waiting.

"I'm synching into his CPU at this very moment, Lord Megatron," I kept my focus on you. Our optics locked together. You know me. I keep telling myself that. You know me.

"And? What are you finding?" Starscream, feeling braver, steps from around Megatron. He's looking down his nose at me too. A snide creature.

I don't answer. In a matter of klicks I won't need to. I hear the thunder echo inside my audio receptors long after the act.

Bodies litter the floor. The autobots and I are the only ones funtioning. ::Fear my strength:: I whisper across the silent Decepticons' communications network. My greatest weapon is not my brute strength but my mind. You're really smiling at me now. You know me. You knew I would get you out of here.

_The Decepticon army was strong. I helped made it that way. Proof I could accomplish mountains in the face of the council. Against him. My guardian wanted to encourage this rebellion for his own selfish gain, using me as a tool. A weapon for disposal. Then when the rebellion became a war, he wanted to escape with his riches. But he had allowed himself to become too greedy and he had raised me so well, I thought my actions were only fair. I took his life and made a cassette with his spark. It was war and resources were small. He became my dear little Ratbat. A drone to the Decepticon army. A fitting end I thought._

_When the fires blazed through Iacon, I came for you. I had plans to keep you safe. Keep you away from the war. Once I found you, you and I would leave. Escape this new generation of war, and start somewhere anew in peace. I believed what I was doing was right. The council was wrong. They were all wrong. This was why the war started and needed to be fought. They were cruel and old, and all the Decepticons wanted was liberation. I figured I had helped enough in this rebellion, that there would be no reason for either of us to be soldiers._

_You proved me wrong._

_You weren't there._

_Promises. A lifetime of promises to be there by my side, and you left me as soon as the world began to crumble. _

_When I next saw you, it was a battlefield. You were there across the war zone, staring at me, your chest carrying the symbol of my enemy. You became my enemy. You knew what I had done, the chaos I had helped bring to our civilization. But you didn't understand, wouldn't or couldn't I'm not sure. I had done it at first out of duty for my guardian, but I began to learn the truth from Megatron. I understood everything now. What I did after that I did for us. For you. _

_How many times have you entered my weapons' crosshairs and I've allowed you to walk away? I've lost count. I can't bring myself to hurt you. Not you. _

_I love you, Tracks._

_I love you._

I open the airlift at the surface of water, watching the waves beat at steel. You and your friends are leaning against each other for support, standing there just behind me. I hear them asking you questions. Not understanding what is going on and why I'm helping you all escape. You won't answer and giving half truths. It may work here, but I doubt that will continue to work when you are back in the Ark.

After crashing my comrades CPUs, I still have 3 jours before any of them reawaken. At which point I need to back in the room and exactly where I had originally had been before they all crashed for this act to work. They had to think I had crashed with them, in which point everyone would blame it on the sneaky Autobots. Maybe claiming that the Hightower mech, capable of invisibility, had snuck in and had used one of their scientist's crazy inventions to encumber us all. I don't know. I'm sure they'll come up something interesting.

Just above our heads is Skyfire, it wasn't hard to find the shuttle's frequency to send him a rescue request. We watched him slowly descend. Once landing his back hatch released and lowered, I watched Optimus and many of his men step out armed. Probably believing it to be a trap. Upon seeing me and their injured friends behind me, I became the focus point of all weapons. I could hear the humming from the deadly charge building in their guns.

Raising my hands above my head I showed them I was unharmed. No danger. One small move too quick I would be meeting the Undertaker before my body touched the floor.

I watched Ratchet, a medic all Autobots and Decepticons knew to fear, come running towards you and your hurt comrades. Swearing up a storm with a few threats tossed in between. I would hate to be welded to any berth in his medical bay.

"I believe we owe you a thank you, Soundwave," Optimus' warm voice fills my audios, he's moving towards me. Gun lowered. "Thank you," he takes my right hand, which was still above my head, into his own and shakes it. My hand is limp inside his, uncertain of what to do with the Prime standing before me on such friendly and concerning terms.

"You are welcome," my vocals reply back softly. I haven't spoken so timidly in what felt like centuries now. Probably have been centuries. Optimus nods an approval at my words. I can't tell but I think he's smiling at me.

"Come on, I need to get these slaggers back to the Ark and into my med bay," Ratchet is half carrying the praxian into Skyfire. "Smokescreen needs his doorwings fixed, Bumblebee needs his processor checked for serious damage, Cliffjumper chassis is crushed which has a high chance of his spark being in danger, and Tracks…Tracks, what are you doing?" Ratchet's rant was cut off by his own question.

Noticing a figure coming into my vision from my side, I turned slowly to meet your optics once more. Your limping towards me until you're chassis is touching mine, hands upon my shoulders to keep your balance. I see tears forming in your optics. Please don't cry. My spark would break under that weight. But you won't listen to my internal thoughts.

"Oh, Sounds," your voice sounds strained, almost sounds like your vocals are shattering. "I'm sorry." You're hugging me, in front of everyone. I quickly scan their faces, all their mouths fallen open in shock. The back of my processor finds some kind of humor in this situation, but I won't laugh. Not right now. "I still love you," you kiss my mask, I won't remove it before my enemies. I hear a crash, another praxian whom I believe to be the autobot's tactician had fallen face first into the floor.

"Great, now I have to fix Prowl as well," Ratchet grumbled to himself, his medic programming overwriting his shock.

You pull away from me and just look at me. I'm afraid to read your thoughts to see what running in there. Then again I don't have to. It's written all over your face, that smile so happy and those tears so sad.

"I've missed you, Sounds."

"I've missed you too, Tracks."

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The end. Please, please, PLEASE review. I like to know what people think about my stories, it helps me know if I'm doing something wrong or not. This story also took me a lil over 12 hours (with all the typing and proofreading and the correcting).

Either way, if you leave a review or not, I hope you enjoyed the story. :D


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